What is the Truth?

Pilate returned to the palace, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this, he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.” –John 18: 33-38

 

“What is the truth?” the puzzled Roman governor Pilate asked Jesus before he announced to the Jews that Jesus was not guilty of any offense. Jesus had told him, “I came to testify to the Truth. Those who love the Truth listen to me” (John 18:37). In our time, we define the Truth as something indefinite and flexible. However, in that era, many people believed that Truth is unchangeable and absolute. Pilate was astonished by Jesus’ expression. Jesus, a middle-class carpenter-turned-Rabbi, claimed to be the King of the Jews. That is why Pilate wanted to let him go. 

 

Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews, the Messiah. Before Jesus, many pretenders had claimed to be the Jewish Messiah. However, Jesus argued, “I am the Truth, the way, and the life.” (John 14:6). Jesus claimed to be the true Messianic King of Israel. He was not like the bad shepherds or false messiahs (John 10:11-14). Messiah means anointed King and Priest, the Royal Priest (Psalm 110). Pious Jews of Jesus’ time expected God to send them a Messiah and save them from Roman oppression. They believed that since their sin had led them to slavery, obeying the Torah faithfully would hasten the coming of the Messiah. A similar notion exists among many churches today about his second coming.

 

The religious Jews believed that the Messiah would save them from their sins. He would cleanse their temple system of corruption, unite the tribes of Israel, lead them to worship God wholeheartedly, and help them overthrow Rome. He would establish an everlasting Kingdom. The Jews expected a military King. Even so, Jesus came as a Messiah of a different kind. He helped the poor, healed the sick, forgave sinners, and led people to worship God. N.T. Wright says that Jesus acted like a “walking temple.” “Jesus was, as it were, a walking Temple. A living, breathing place-where-Israel’s-God-was-living.”[1]“The Temple was the intersection between heaven and earth; but now the place of intersection is Jesus himself. [He was] equally at home in either or both of the twin halves of God’s good creation.”[2]Jesus did what the temple system was supposed to do to the people of Israel.

 

In Philippians, Paul writes that though Jesus was equal to God, the Almighty, he humbled himself and appeared as a servant of God (much lower than angels) (Phil. 2:6-7). Jesus did so to save humanity from the Adamic curse of mortality (Gen. 3:19, Rom. 5:12) and lead them to immortality (2 Tim. 1:10). God had cursed humanity for opting for autonomy. As a result, people became mortal. Death and decay entered the space-time universe (Rom 8:21). God blessed Abraham and all nations through his descendant (Gen 12:3, Gal 3:8,16). The blessing would reverse the curse’s effects (death and decay) and bring immortality. Abraham’s seed, Jesus Christ -God’s Son– reversed this curse by paying the penalty on humanity’s behalf. 

 

Unlike Adam, who became mortal due to sin, Jesus had no sin. Therefore, he was immortal. Despite being an immortal human, Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death. He did so to pay the penalty for the sins of Adamic humanity. Though he was righteous, he accepted the death of an anti-national and a traitor because he loved people more than himself (Phil. 2:7-8). N.T Wright observes, “The priestly council and the high priest accused Jesus “of plotting against the Temple, forbidding [people from] giving Caesar [the tribute], claiming to be God’s Son and king of the Jews, a rebel leader.”[3]The Jews accused Jesus of blaspheming against God and claiming to be a ruler superior to Caesar. 

 

And Pilate agreed to these charges. Pilate didn’t see anything condemnable in Jesus because Jesus never started a revolt against Caesar’s kingdom. Still, to satisfy the religious Jews, he was ready to crucify Jesus. Therefore, the only charge Pilate could write against Jesus’ name was “Jesus, the rebel King.” Phrased differently, “Jesus, The King of the Jews.” When the religious Jews wanted him to change his statement, Pilate refused. He answered,Ὃ γέγραφα, γέγραφα,’ What I have written, I have written” (John 19:22). Pilate wanted to make fun of the Jews. Yet, he also wanted to state his charge against Jesus to remain above board in the Roman world. Jesus’ death could cause an uproar. Pilate did not want Caesar to think that his actions would disturb the peace of Jerusalem. 

 

Nevertheless, God reversed Pilate’s verdict by raising Jesus from the dead. Paul notes, “Jesus humbled himself.” He prioritized God’s will and other humans more than his self-interest. “Therefore, God raised him from the dead, exalted him to the highest place, and gave him the highest name (Acts 2:33, Phil. 2:9-10; Eph 2:20-21).” Pilate had mockingly called Jesus the King of the Jews. God raised Jesus and declared to the world that Jesus was the true King of the Jews. The religious Jews of Jesus’ time could not produce his dead body even with the help of Roman soldiers. Besides, Jesus appeared to more than five hundred people of his time immediately after his resurrection for forty days (1 Cor. 15:6, Acts 1:3). He left into God’s space to reign over all realms: human and angelic (Acts 1:9, Phil. 2:10-11). 

 

King Jesus is not only the King of the Jews but of the entire human race. The Old Testament says, “God is Israel’s King” (1 Sam. 8:7, Isa. 44:6). Israel’s God in human form, Jesus, is now Israel’s true King (John 1:49; 12:13). Jesus is the King of all humanity, who truly loves us. He is not like the tyrant rulers of this world. The loving, living, and loyal King Jesus is the Truth. Jesus empowered his followers with His Spirit. They were ready to die for the Truth of his resurrection. People would not risk their lives if they knew the resurrection story was fake. Nevertheless, the apostles propagated that Jesus rose and would appear again. And God offered people forgiveness and immortality –resurrection life– through him in the coming age.

 

King Jesus defeated death and rose to life again to start a new humanity (Eph. 2:15) as the second Adam (Rom. 5:12-21, 1 Cor 15:22, 45). We can participate in this new humanity or new creation through faith in Jesus’ faithfulness towards us (Rom. 3:25-26 TKNT; 2 Cor 5:17). Jesus’ resurrection is a pointer to our resurrection (1 Cor. 15:13). He is the firstborn from the dead and the Lord of the universe (Col. 1:18). God has seated him at his right hand (Eph. 1:20, Col. 3:1, Heb. 1:3) and given him authority to judge all nations fairly (Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:16). “The resurrection,” notes Wright, “was the full bursting into this world of the life of God’s new creation. Christian ethics is the lifestyle that celebrates and embodies that new creation.” Within God’s new world, Christian holiness makes perfect sense.[4]

 

When Jesus returns, he will reward the righteous who trust in him and do good to others with life in the coming age. They would reign with him, and God’s Kingdom would come in its fullness on earth. Wright sums up, “To Paul... the result of Jesus’s achievement is a new creation, a new heaven-and-earth world in which humans can resume their genuinely human vocation as the ‘kingdom of priests,’ the ‘royal priesthood’”“...as the people who are called to stand at the dangerous but exhilarating point where heaven [God’s space] and earth [human space] meet.”[5]“The ‘goal’ is not ‘heaven,’ but a renewed human vocation within God’s renewed creation. [In this view], the creation is [a cosmic] Temple. [It is] a heaven-and-earth duality, where humans function as the “image-bearers” in the cosmic Temple.”[6]

 

Unfortunately, many Christians do not reflect Christ’s character. Yet, we all admire Jesus for His unconditional love for humanity. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read the life of Jesus. Jesus embraced everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status or religious background. In His time, society marginalized those who were deformed, such as the blind, lame, mute, deaf, and lepers. However, Jesus showed them love and compassion. The Jewish people of Jesus’ era did not view women and children as equals. Even so, Jesus taught His disciples to be humble like children (Matt. 18:4). Following His resurrection, Jesus chose to appear first to His female followers (Mark 16:1-8). What is more, both Jesus and Paul challenged the institution of slavery. Paul urged Philemon to accept his runaway slave, Onesimus, as a brother in Christ (Philemon 1:16).

 

Paul wrote: “In Jesus Christ, there’s no male or female, gentile or Jew, barbarian or civilized” (Gal 3:28, Col. 3:11). We are all equal in God’s sight since Christ is in all of us. The Jews of Jesus’ time labeled him as a friend of sinners (Matt. 11:19) because he devoted most of his time to preaching and helping known sinners (prostitutes) and outcasts (tax collectors and deformed people). They hated Jesus because he was kind to those they despised. Ultimately, they killed him. But God raised him from the dead. He will raise us, too, if we trust him; this is the Truth. May you come to know the Truth, and may he set you free (John 8:32). The gospels –Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John– announce Jesus as a historical figure, a risen King, now alive in God’s space. He is the Truth: the true King, Lord, and God of all (John 14:6).

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[1]N. T. Wright, Simply Jesus: Who He Was, What He Did, Why It Matters, Kindle (London, U.K.: SPCK, 2011), 131.

[2]Wright, How God Became King: Getting to the Heart of the Gospel, Kindle (London, U.K.: SPCK, 2012), 247.

[3]Wright, Simply Jesus, 183.

[4]Wright, Surprised by Hope, Kindle (New York: HarperOne, 2008), 284-285.

[5]Wright, The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion, Kindle (San Francisco, California: HarperOne, 2016), 268, 76.

[6]Wright, The Day the Revolution Began, 74, 76.